Padfoot & Knox
by Rokstar
Summary: For once, Sirius actually liked the girl. He just... didn't know what to do about it. SB/OC and other pairings.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: All Harry Potter characters and environments belong to the amazing J K Rowling. OCs belong to me.**

**Rated: T**

**Padfoot & Knox **

**Setting**

James Potter was showing off. _Again_. Everyone knew it was all for Lily Evans, who as fate would have it, was always least impressed if not extremely annoyed by his antics. Not one person in the entire school, including James himself, could quite understand why. He was smart, undoubtedly popular, funny, very attractive, and was always surrounded by a group of friends who were very popular themselves. Well, at least _one _person among them was anyway. And that was enough to rile up the entire school – for James Potter's best friend was Sirius Black.

Sirius was almost, if not more than popular, than James because of his unbelievable good looks, top grades, and a rather unpleasant personality that appealed to the female population at Hogwarts. The other two friends in the group were Remus Lupin, a kind, generous person in general who got along with everyone, and a short, rotund little boy called Peter Pettigrew.

They formed an unlikely group but were the thickest of friends. And it was clearly visible to everyone at Hogwarts.

But the fact still remained that – as James and Sirius were trouble-makers of the worst kind, the people they wanted to impress did not find any of their antics amusing. Therefore, it always seemed like a lost cause.

James had always been very vocal about his intentions to Lily. And Lily had been very vocal in her rejection of him. But that didn't stop James from trying again – apparently, his personal motto was – _try and try again until you succeed_. It was no _secret_ that James Potter fancied Lily Evans, that there isn't anything he wouldn't do to get her to go out with him. _Everybody_ knew.

However, what was a secret was that Sirius, too, had a _special someone_. But James was the only one to know about it. Not that he heard those exact words from Sirius or that Sirius had actually talked to him about the matter. Sirius had not so much as pronounced _her _name to him. It was just one of those things amongst friends; James just _knew_ how much Sirius liked this particular girl, who was best friends with his dear Lily.

Rachel Knox was her name; a tall, blonde haired, blue-eyed beauty who, in his case like Lily (sadly), couldn't care less about Sirius Black. Sirius seemed to be denying it to himself for some time, but James knew it hurt him to a certain degree. Well, he should know, it hurt him every time Lily rejected him and she always managed to reject him in the harshest manner.

The case of Sirius and Rachel, however, was drastically different.

During their first ever journey in the Hogwarts Express, Lily and her friend Severus Snape, another first year who was friends with Lily since before Hogwarts, had rushed out of the compartment which they had initially shared with James, Sirius and a few other rowdy boys who were teasing her and Snape, and had found refuge in another compartment, which had only three other first year students.

One of them was Rachel Knox. When Lily first met Rachel, she was very much surprised. There was an air of confidence about Rachel that Lily had lacked. At that time, Rachel's golden-blonde hair was extremely curly, and since it only fell to her shoulders, made her face look small while her head looked a tad too big for her small body. But she hardly seemed bothered by it, which Lily liked immediately, brushing off Snape's snort the second he laid eyes on her. Lily liked her from the start and gladly opted to sit next to Rachel.

Already sharing the compartment with Rachel were two boys: Castor Greaves and Howard Bixby. Castor Greaves was a tall, lanky boy with perpetually ruffled looking dark brown hair. Howard Bixby was slightly shorter than Castor in height and had sandy blond hair. Rachel seemed to be having a great time with both of them, even before the impromptu arrival of Lily and Snape.

By the time the Hogwarts Express reached the school, they had become fast friends, excluding Snape who would rather have spent his time with Lily alone. Lily got along well with Castor and Howard, and she especially liked Rachel. And Rachel in turn liked her, very much.

A short while later, all the first years were gathered in the Great Hall, waiting nervously to be sorted into their respective houses. Here, Snape was separated from Lily when the Sorting Hat placed him in Slytherin House while Lily was reunited with the three from the train in Gryffindor House. From then on, Lily, Rachel, Castor and Howard had become inseparable, much like James and Sirius; Remus and Peter joined in later on.

As young eleven year olds, the first year at Hogwarts had been about self-discovery. Ever since the first class, it was clear to the teacher and student body alike that the new batch of students – not particular to just a single house – had a number of highly gifted students. Some of them were in Gryffindor House, such as Lily, Rachel, James, Sirius and Remus.

It was also extremely clear to everyone (Filch, the caretaker included) that James Potter and Sirius Black were two of the biggest troublemakers to have ever set foot at Hogwarts. Things sort of went downhill from then on. Lily, who had taken a dislike to James and Sirius since they had poked fun at Snape in the train, found her dislike growing with each passing day. When Lily had related the incident to her friend, Rachel started to loath the boys as well; for she found them to be nothing more than obnoxious show-offs whose heads were swelling rapidly on account of their increasing popularity. She did like Remus, however, and always had a pleasant smile ready for him.

Situations didn't change until their third year, for it was during their third year at Hogwarts that James started to _like_ Lily, and it was during the fourth year that Sirius fell for Rachel.

No matter how much his best friend denied it, James was certain of his attraction to Rachel. James could even relate the exact time and place during which Sirius's attraction had started.

It was on a bright, sunny morning on September the first.

The Hogwarts Express was a few short minutes away from leaving King's Cross Station. James, Sirius, Remus and Peter were standing about chatting with Mr and Mrs Potter on Platform Nine and Three Quarters. It was at this time that Lily had chosen to show up with her parents while Rachel was accompanied by a sturdy-looking old woman.

James eyed Lily appreciatively, quite liking the soft changes the summer holidays had brought about in her. Then, his eyes fell on Rachel, except she didn't look like the Rachel he had known for the past three years.

Her golden blonde hair was no longer a thick mass of curls but sleek, straight and shiny, and fell elegantly to her waist. And perhaps it was such a change that gave more structure to her oval face, keen blue eyes, sharp nose and pouted red lips. She looked like an entirely different person without her extremely curly hair. James also felt as though he was seeing her skin for the first time because he had never noticed before then, that it was a very light shade of honey, and made her look more beautiful than ever.

He wasn't the only one staring at her either. Almost every Hogwarts' student in the vicinity was looking at her quite unbelievably. Because of her hair, Rachel did endure a lot of name-calling over the past three years. No doubt the sudden turn of events would bring about a drastic change in her life at Hogwarts. However, as is with Rachel, she didn't notice at all, and continued to chat with her friends, oblivious to the open stares.

Thoroughly nonplussed at the sudden change in their housemate, James had turned to Sirius to note his reaction when the look on his friend's face made him stop. He would recognise that look anywhere – it was undisguised admiration – for he was sure he had the very same look when he'd seen Lily. Sirius hardly blinked at all as he kept his eyes locked on Rachel Knox.

James shook his head, a small smile playing on his lips. Sirius, too, had fallen for a girl.

However, James was not entirely certain that _Sirius_ was aware of his new found admiration for Rachel. So, he watched him closely for the next few weeks, inwardly thankful that Rachel was in Gryffindor House, along with them and Lily. He caught Sirius staring at her on more than one occasion but that always managed to put a sour look on Sirius's face when he saw just how close Rachel and Castor Greaves really were. Through Remus (the mutual friend), they had learned that Castor and Rachel had been best friends since childhood and that they were "thick as thieves". This piece of news did _not_ put a smile on Sirius's face.

On the contrary, Sirius always clenched his jaw whenever they saw them together, which was almost all the time. However, he had never once enquired if there was anything going on between them, not to Remus, not to anyone. Which really was a shame, because James was exactly in the same situation he was – he, too, felt the savage urge to jinx something whenever he saw Lily and Snape together. (Well, he only wanted to jinx Snape and did so at every opportunity he got)

_Poor Sirius_, James had thought. He couldn't even vent his anger on Castor. It was Sirius's secret, and he intended to keep it so.

During the year, James and Sirius moved on to better and more jaw-dropping stunts and pranks, and had discovered new ways to get detention. Along the way, they started to explore Hogwarts Castle and made it their life's mission to discover all of its secrets. Like so, they decided to name themselves – The Marauders.

Life was at its best for the four friends – except for the tiny glitch in the scenery known as Lily Evans for James, and in Sirius's case, Rachel Knox.

Not only did Rachel and Lily hate the sight of James and Sirius, they pretended most of the time that the boys didn't exist, like whenever they were too loud in the common room or the classroom. The worst part about it was, Rachel, Lily, Cas (as Rachel called him) and Howard, were popular in their own right. Castor had a roguish look about him that made him look older than he actually was; he also had a scowl on his face most of the time and only spoke when spoken to. It was clear to anyone who was looking that he cared a great deal about Rachel, and since their friendship had started in childhood, gave the distinct impression that no one knew her better than he did. He was also a good student, and his quiet ways were attractive to the girls at Hogwarts.

Howard had to be the mature one in the group. Being the only son of parents who led a quiet, rather boring life in the high society of Wizarding London, their serious attitude had rubbed off on him as well. He preferred the calm, subdued life he was used to, happy within his small circle of friends.

Still, there was never a dull moment for them; especially at Hogwarts.

After Rachel's transformation, she had become a reputed beauty at Hogwarts, gaining a fan following from boys of all ages, and even younger girls, who looked up to her and Lily as role models, for they were smart, well-behaved and beautiful. Rachel's peers and seniors were not too happy about the fact, but were too intimidated by her to actually show their jealousy. Rachel, for her part, did not seem to notice the rise in her popularity; she didn't seem to care. Rachel didn't care when people made fun of her big head when her hair was curly, she sure as hell didn't care that people admired her when it was sleek and shiny. That was just the way she was.

Rachel had wanted to grow out her hair, but seeing as how unmanageable it would become in its curly state, she used a hair straightening cream that required to be applied once every three months. She was satisfied with the results and decided to stick to it. _That_ was the only thing that changed about her.

It was what Lily liked most about her best friend which was exactly what Castor and Howard liked about her, too. Throughout the castle, they gained a glowing reputation of being the nice blokes.

Speaking of Castor and Rachel's closeness, Lily and Howard knew that they were nothing more than good friends – best friends, in fact, like Lily and Snape. The rest of the school did not agree. As years passed, rumours about their "relationship" started circulating around the school, rumours which, on reaching Sirius's ears, made him want to curse Castor Greaves into oblivion.

However, no sooner had the rumours started, that they were quickly and spectacularly shattered by Rachel herself. She and Cas had turned a deaf ear to the stories about them, and had treated the entire situation as a joke with Lily and Howard. At the end of their fourth year at Hogwarts, Rachel, for the first time in her life, was asked out on a date by a Ravenclaw sixth year named Michael Vartan. To the shock of the entire school, she accepted.

She didn't agree in order to put the gossip about her and Cas to rest, but because Michael was a smart, friendly person, and a Prefect to boot. Rachel liked him immediately and, like so, became the girlfriend of a rather good-looking wizard of sixteen.

Needless to say, Lily, Cas and Howard were very pleased with the pairing and approved of Michael.

Well, everyone except Sirius, of course. The news hit him like a solid punch to the gut, and he had sulked for weeks on end. It took repeatedly dunking Snape head-first in the Black Lake for him to even crack a smile. It took him another week to get his act together and pretend as though there was nothing wrong with him to begin with. It was an unspoken agreement between James, Remus and Peter to go along with his act and never to mention the words Rachel or Vartan when he was around. All in all, the four friends put the "incident" behind them and moved on. Just like that, Sirius had lost his love, even before it had a chance to begin.

Only James saw him suffer in silence after. But it probably was for the best, James felt himself thinking, because at least now, Sirius could come to terms with his feelings for Rachel Knox. Sirius knew _now_, when she was with someone else, that he did indeed like her immensely, that he did have feelings for her.

Rebellious by nature, he and James went on a jinxing and hexing spree on anyone who annoyed them. They liked the attention they received and Sirius, not knowing what to do about the Rachel-Vartan situation, eased his pride by becoming an incorrigible flirt, breaking hearts left, right and centre. The female devotion he received swelled his already inflated head, and together with James, Remus and Peter, became true Marauders of Hogwarts.

What Sirius didn't know, was that the best thing about life is its blatant unpredictability. Never in a million years would he have predicted the changes that were about to come his way …

**A/N: This is the setting of the story. It will start (properly) in the next chapter.**

**Please review and let me know what you think.**

**Thank you for reading. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: ** All Harry Potter characters and environments belong to J K Rowling. OCs belong to me.

**Rated:** T

**Chapter 1**

On a bright shiny morning on September the first, a young girl and someone who looked to be her grandmother made their way into King's Cross station. The girl was about fifteen years of age with long beautifully bold blonde hair with blue eyes in a face that was very hard to forget. Her grandmother was a tall sturdy-looking woman with a head full of white hair and slightly wrinkled features that bore vestiges of great beauty.

King's Cross was crowded this morning, and Rachel Knox had a hard time trying to navigate the luggage trolley around the commuters in the station. She almost hit a few people, and each time her snowy white owl, Isis, gave an indignant hoot from inside her cage which was perched precariously over her trunk.

"Packed as always," said her grandmother, Tallulah Knox, shaking her head at the crowded station.

Rachel hardly needed to agree on that. Fortunately, they had reached the solid brick wall between platforms nine and ten which served as a barrier into Platform Nine and Three Quarters.

Behind them, Castor and his mother struggled to keep up with them. However, when they were close enough, Rachel and Castor sped forward and entered the barrier first. Unlike the adults, they didn't stop to see if there were any muggles looking their way.

Rachel passed through the barrier first, closely followed by Castor. The familiar sight of the scarlet steam engine put a wide smile on her face. The Platform was buzzing with Hogwarts students and their families alike, many arriving for the very first time, and many making their final trip, in the Hogwarts Express.

Castor, too, gazed at the scarlet steam engine, before looking back at her.

"Now that's a pleasant sight," he said with a smirk.

"Yeah," Rachel agreed. She didn't realise how much she had missed school life until now.

Barely another second had passed after he said that when Rachel's grandmother and Mrs Greaves joined them. Together, they moved into the platform.

As they moved into the crowd, Rachel glimpsed the familiar faces she'd seen over her four years at Hogwarts. She didn't remember most of their names, though. Rachel had trouble putting names to faces when she saw them; always had, always will.

Lily and Howard's faces were the only ones that she cared to see now, and it wasn't long before she spotted them standing about with their families. Lily looked the same, save for the fact the she had grown a few inches in height. Her dark red hair fell to her shoulders just as it always did, and she'd already changed into her school robes. Of course, Lily had been made Prefect, Rachel had almost forgotten about it. They could not have chosen a better candidate, in Rachel's opinion. As for Howard, he was the spitting image of his mum – short, slightly stocky, with sandy-blond hair and warm brown eyes. Mr Bixby, like Rachel's father, worked at the Ministry and therefore, couldn't make it to the station to see them off.

"Lily!" yelled Rachel, ecstatically, over the chatter.

Lily turned at the sound almost immediately, and catching Rachel's eye, squealed lightly and pulled her into a tight hug. Rachel returned it whole-heartedly; she had missed Lily terribly over the summer.

"Cas!" greeted Lily, when Cas joined them. Cas smiled widely as he bestowed a friendly hug on the red-haired girl.

Rachel and Lily had exchanged enough letters through the summer that inquiries about the holidays were rendered quite unnecessary.

"Nice one," said Cas, pointing at the Prefect's badge pinned to Lily's robes. "I knew you'd be the one to get it."

"Thanks!" Lily gushed happily, trying not to look too pleased. She failed, of course, which Rachel told her, and they all started to laugh.

While Mrs and Mr Evans, and Mrs Bixby were getting reacquainted with Rachel's grandmother, and the four friends continued with their chit-chat, one person lurked behind a pillar nearby, his eyes fixated on the girl with the golden-blonde hair.

* * *

Sirius Black watched the crowded station from his secluded corner, hiding behind a rather large stone column, which kept him away from the sight of most people. He was none too pleased at having to hide away like this, but he was growing increasingly tired of girls walking past his compartment every few minutes, giggling and gawking at him as though he were some prized peacock.

Unable to take it anymore, he slipped out using James' invisibility cloak and, once he was certain that he would not be spotted by obsessed fan girls, he removed it and stuffed the cloak back into his pocket.

Of course, Sirius Black liked the attention he received, especially from girls, but today, it seemed to be more tedious than it was exciting. Today, he was impatient, restless even. He had been ever since he left home, and although stepping out of his rather unpleasant house, Grimmauld Place, was all it would take for him to feel exhilarated, today, he was not feeling anything of the sort. Today, he felt aggravated, and annoyed.

As a sign of said aggravation, he ran his hand impatiently through his dark hair. The soft tresses fell back into his eyes, with the same casual ease as before. Huffing, he resumed his watch on the noisy, ever increasing crowd.

Then, he spotted her. He could probably spot her in a crowd numbering in the thousands; such golden blonde hair was a rarity. Just like that, that impatience disappeared. It was replaced by a feeling so pleasant, a shadow of a smile crept into his face.

Rachel Knox was making her way through the crowd, pushing her trolley loaded with her luggage and her snowy white owl, Isis. She looked just the same as he remembered, but also somewhat different at the same time. Her waist-length hair was as golden as ever, glimmering in the sunlight, while her sparkling blue eyes were bright with excitement.

Sirius felt a familiar swooping sensation at the pit of his stomach as he surveyed her. Her eyes had always managed to do that to him. And the way she smiled, as she was doing now, surrounded by her friends, added more force to that sensation.

However, as quickly as the smile had appeared on his face, it disappeared just as quickly. The reason for this was him starting to notice the people around her. Curiously enough, it wasn't Castor Greaves who was making him seethe as he was – like he had been for a long time now. No, it was another student altogether, a Ravenclaw seventh year named Michael Vartan.

The name churned inside his stomach like venom, making his hand twitch for his wand. He restrained himself with a lot of effort. The mere sight of Rachel smiling at Vartan was enough to make his blood boil. His eyes narrowed into slits as he watched Vartan help Rachel and her friends load their luggage onto the train.

Rachel, Lily, Castor and Howard boarded the train as well, waving goodbye to their families in the process. It was almost 11 am, time for the train to depart Platform Nine and Three Quarters.

Sirius was finding it increasingly difficult to reign in his temper. There was a time when he wanted to curse Castor Greaves simply because of strange rumours regarding him and Rachel. However, since it was a fact that Rachel was actually dating that Ravenclaw imbecile, he was seeing red every time he saw them together, like right now.

Donning the invisibility cloak once again, he, too, boarded the train. It was a good thing that he did; the expression on his face would have scared away his most devoted fans. Stonily, he marched back to the compartment he had previously exited, and saw James and Peter inside.

He slid the door of the compartment open and only after he had closed it did he take off the cloak. James didn't look surprised in the least at his appearance, but Peter, scardy-cat that he was, jumped a mile.

"Sirius!" Peter gasped, trying to pass off his moment of shock as surprise.

Sirius nearly rolled his eyes as he dumped the cloak onto James' lap and took the seat opposite him.

"Let me guess," James said, eyeing Sirius critically, "You saw Knox with Vartan, didn't you?"

Sirius stiffened. James always managed to make the right guesses when it came to his feelings for Rachel. But, since Sirius always maintained that he didn't care for Rachel in the slightest, he was running out of excuses to explain his foul moods.

Sirius remained silent, still aware that James was still looking at him. Peter was too, but Sirius ignored both of them.

"Where's Remus?" he asked as a means of distraction.

"Prefect, remember?" said James with the slightest bit of impatience. "He and Evans, both are."

Sirius remembered now. Remus was the only good boy in Gryffindor; it was obvious he would get the badge eventually. And there was nothing surprising about Lily Evans becoming a prefect either.

"Wish you'd got that badge now, eh, Prongs?" asked Sirius, smirking at his best mate.

"All evidence to the contrary, my dear Padfoot," said James smirking back.

He and Sirius spent too much time in detention, and far too much fun getting there, for him to ever regret not becoming a prefect.

"Besides," said James confidently, "I don't need a badge to get Evans to like me."

Sirius laughed, while Peter remained spectator to the conversation.

"Right," said Sirius, thinking that it was probably best to let James have his fantasies. He couldn't quite understand why Evans gave Prongs such a hard time, but it didn't seem to slow him down in the slightest. He started to show off more whenever she was around – with Rachel … and Greaves, and Bixby, and now … Vartan.

His mood darkened again; he wished he could put his fist through a wall from the frustration of it all.

"But you know, Padfoot," said James interrupting his train of thought, "I think it's finally time for you to make a move on Knox. If you don't, someone else just might snag her, and you'll be right where you are now."

Sirius nearly groaned – the conversation had turned back to him – and Knox.

However, with perfect timing, Remus entered the compartment. He slid the door shut, and plonked down on the seat next to Sirius. He looked exhausted, but smiled nonetheless, happy to be back amongst friends.

"Just give it a rest already, Prongs," he all but snapped at James, before turning to Remus and saying, "Welcome back, Moony."

Unfortunately, Remus seemed to be more interested in what he had missed. "Give _what_ a rest already?" he asked, looking between his two friends. When neither of them answered, he turned to Peter, who was still resolutely silent.

Peter squirmed uncomfortably, being put on the spot. "W-Well, Prongs was t-teasing Padfoot and – "

He stopped because Sirius was giving him murderous looks. But, Remus didn't need to know more – he could guess the topic of discussion.

"Ah, Rachel Knox," said Remus looking inquisitively at Sirius who was personally wishing he was still standing behind that pillar with no one to bother him. Thankfully, Remus seemed to understand his situation and changed the subject to his holidays and how he'd spent them.

Sirius gazed out the window for a while. He needed to get his mind off Rachel Knox. He didn't even know why he like – er… why she _appealed_ to him so much. Furthermore, it was upsetting how indifferent she seemed to anyone who she wasn't interested in talking to. At least, when James made an utter fool of himself seeking Lily's attention, she reacted to him. Her reactions _may_ be blinding hatred, but still … it was in fact a _reaction_.

Where Lily would blow a fuse in response to James' antics, Rachel would probably scoff or roll her eyes … and that would be the end of it. Nothing ever riled her up which was one thing he didn't quite understand about her. He sometimes thought that perhaps all the name-calling she had to endure when her hair was big and curly had something to do with it. She grew a practised apathy towards people in general. Now she couldn't care less.

Sirius just didn't know how to break through that barrier. He didn't know how to approach her, how to get her attention, how to be noticed by her. He could only wonder how Vartan had managed to do it.

Ugh, he longed to bury his face in his hands. His thought process alone was getting on his nerves. He was Sirius Black, prankster extraordinaire of Hogwarts not some love-sick puppy. He didn't like being this way. And the way his anger flared when he saw Rachel with Vartan wasn't helping much either. He needed to a distraction. He had to put her out of his mind and forget about her.

That's what he had to do; he was tired of it anyway. All he needed was a distraction which Hogwarts more than provided. And he was going to find it.

How hard could it be? _Seriously?_

* * *

By the time the sun set over the horizon, the Hogwarts Express finally came to a stop. The students filed out in droves, dragging their luggage, and in some cases, their pets' cages along with them. A little while ahead, rows upon rows of horse-less carriages (since they moved by magic, or so it seemed) stood waiting to take them to the castle, while the first years were led to the boats that took them across the lake to the castle, by Hagrid the gamekeeper at Hogwarts. Lily joined the other prefects in supervising all of it so Castor and Howard moved up ahead to find a carriage for them all while Rachel tried to keep up as best she could. Rachel was having trouble managing both her owl cage and her trunk, and she feared she'd drop the cage and injure Isis. Swaying unevenly behind the bars, Isis started screeching loudly.

Rachel had no choice but to put down the cage. She readjusted her grip on her trunk and yanked it up, while simultaneously taking a step forward. This caused her to walk face first into someone's back. The person stumbled slightly at the impact, then turned around to face her.

"Ouch!" she said, stepping back immediately, covering her face with her hands. Her nose had smashed against the back of whoever she had collided with, and it hurt badly. She looked up only to find herself staring into the handsome face and grey eyes of one Sirius Black.

_Bugger! _

Involuntarily, she took another step back and collided painfully with her trunk and almost fell, but Black reached out and steadied her.

"Thanks," she said, embarrassed and in pain. _Uh_, _why did it have to be him_? "And sorry about the – " she gestured with her hands about bumping into him.

"Don't worry about it," he said, waving off her apology.

Then, there was an awkward silence.

She reached down and pulled up her trunk again, in a hurry to move away from the awkwardness.

"Need any help?" he asked, sounding sincere in his offer. Rachel could hardly believe her ears. She wasn't entirely sure what was happening. Why on earth was _Sirius Black_ offering to help _her_? After all these years of pointedly ignoring him and his friends and whatever stunts they had pulled, she had assumed he hated her. He _should_ hate her.

But, she was starting to think she was wrong. Realising she was just standing there staring at him she inwardly shook herself and snapped out of her thoughts.

"No, thank you," she said, politely.

Sirius Black merely looked at her for a moment, then gave a noncommittal jerk of the head, and stalked off without another glance at her.

Rachel watched him walk away, bewildered to the bone. Then, she saw that Cas had returned to help her with the luggage, and had probably witnessed what had happened just now.

"What was that?" she asked slowly, hoping for a reasonable explanation.

Castor was quiet, and in Rachel's opinion, had a curious expression on his face. It wasn't utter surprise as it was in her case, it was doubt. He was frowning, his eyes on Black's retreating figure.

"I don't know," he said slowly, but his tone suggested otherwise, "but I think we should move. Or we'll be late."

"Right," said Rachel immediately. And with that, she and Castor set off to the carriage.

"What took you so long?" Howard inquired, once they'd arrived.

"I had trouble with these," Rachel said, tapping her trunk with her foot, and holding up her owl cage. Thankfully, her nose and foot didn't hurt as much now.

After everyone had got in, the coach set off for the castle. Rachel couldn't wait to see it again, and she was really looking forward to the feast.

While Rachel, Lily and Howard talked among themselves, they failed to notice that Castor was quiet through the entire trip.

Afterword, the night seemed to melt away before them. There was so much chatter and laughter, Rachel barely noticed what she ate. All she knew was that she was happy to be back at Hogwarts, with her best friends. All of it drove the incident with Sirius Black out of her mind completely. And by the time she reached the familiar common room, her eyes were itching with tiredness.

She and Lily bid goodnight to Castor and Howard and entered their dormitory. Rachel changed into her pyjamas and got into bed, stayed awake long enough to mumble "good night" to Lily and promptly drifted off to sleep.

* * *

In another part of the same tower, things were not going quite so smoothly for another young Gryffindor. Sirius Black was lying in bed, the hangings drawn around his four-poster bed, pretending to be asleep.

He had been unusually quiet throughout dinner which his friends didn't fail to notice. He assured them that all was fine, but Remus still had that all-knowing look in his eyes which annoyed him to the core so he ended up snapping at them. And that shut them all up for the rest of the night. He really didn't like keeping his friends in the dark but he just wanted to keep the events of the evening to himself for a while.

His brief conversation with Rachel kept coming back to him. That was the longest he'd ever talked to her. He remembered her blue eyes well enough – the way they showed a myriad of emotions that her face masked. He had caught her off guard which left her flustered. Looking back on it now, he wanted to laugh at that. He was simply glad that she didn't stick her nose in the air and walk away from him the minute she saw his face.

She didn't hate him after all, like he'd originally thought. She was just … indifferent … like she was with the majority of the population of Hogwarts, which, all things considered, was a step up for him.

It was only then that something James had said earlier that day came back to him.

"_I think it's finally time for you to make a move on Knox. If you don't, someone else just might snag her, and you'll be right where you are now."_

Only now did he understand what James meant. Vartan was in his seventh and last year at Hogwarts. That meant that he still had a shot with Rachel Knox, once he was well away from Hogwarts, of course. A hopeful sort of feeling filled his chest, and things didn't look so bleak when it came to him and Rachel.

The question was – would he be able to survive _this_ year at all?

**Thank you for reading :)  
**

**Please review and tell me what you think.**


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